Child Content Creators and Just Compensation: A Policy Expansion on 'Coogan Law' for Child Social Media Stars

Authors

Deanna Cooper

First & Last Page

134-158

Abstract

The realm of child entertainers utilizing social media platforms for influencer marketing and monetizing their original content is ever-changing, and officials who could manufacture legislation changes to protect those financial futures have long been locked in a stalemate. Child actors and child entertainers in traditional workplace settings have financial protections under ‘Coogan Law,’ a state law enacted to safeguard a portion of the minor’s earnings in a trust account until they reach the age of majority and to protect their assets from exploitation and financial abuse by their managers and/or family members. Those same underaged content creators earn thousands of dollars for brand deals, viewership on YouTube, likes, and engagement across Instagram and TikTok. Yet there are no required safeguards for child content creators in the United States, meaning that the parents and guardians of the child content creators are not legally obligated to reserve any portion of the child content creators’ earnings for their future. This paper will illustrate why, due to the similarities in the nature of their work to child actors, all child content creators should have a portion of their earnings set aside for their futures and monetary interests in the online entertainment and influencer spaces.

Recommended Citation

Deanna Cooper, Child Content Creators and Just Compensation: A Policy Expansion on 'Coogan Law' for Child Social Media Stars, 10 Lincoln Mem’l U. L. Rev. (2023).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmunet.edu/lmulrev/vol10/iss2/6